Boeing to lay off hundreds more engineers - source

Boeing plans another round of involuntary layoffs affecting hundreds of engineers at its commercial airplanes unit, according to a source and a memo seen by Reuters. Roselle Chen reports.

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Boeing is planning to layoff hundreds of engineers at its commercial airplanes unit, according to a source and a memo seen by Reuters.
It will be a combination of attrition, voluntary layoffs, and, in some cases, involuntary layoffs. The job cuts will start at the end of June.
Richard Aboulafia, vice-president of analysis at Teal Group.
(SOUNDBITE) RICHARD L. ABOULAFIA, VICE PRESIDENT, ANALYSIS, TEAL GROUP, (ENGLISH) SAYING:
"You got three factors. One is that these programs are getting through with their development and entering production, and there is no need for engineers. The second is that the company feels the need to keep giving the cash back to shareholders, which is definitely an obligation that puts pressure on all the other things. And then, on top of that, they've got profitability pressures. I guess the number of 777 they're delivering is trending downward. The 737 NG program is getting ready to transition to the 737 MAX program, which is perhaps a bit more expensive to build. You get all of these pressures and the result is layoffs."
Boeing already cut several hundred engineering jobs in January and March. More workers are set for layoffs in May.

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